This invention relates to a surgical needle guide, and specifically to a needle guide which may be secured to a physician/surgeon's gloved finger to guide a needle in the course of a surgical procedure, such as in the examination of the prostate gland.
Some surgical procedures require that a surgeon manually direct an aspiration or biopsy surgical needle to adjacent tissue which is to be sampled during a surgical procedure. A variety of devices which assist in guiding such a needle have been disclosed. However, known devices do not provide readily for temporary precise attachment of a device on a surgeon's finger, nor do they allow a surgeon to palpate, with virtually no obstruction, and with a high degree of tactility, the patient's tissue while positioning the device and an associated needle
A key object of the present invention is to provide a finger-mount surgical needle guide which significantly advances the state of the art in such devices
More particularly, an object of the invention is to provide such a guide which is readily placed, in a precise predetermined position, on a surgeon's finger
Another object is to provide, in such a guide, a pliable, touch-sensitive ribbon/attaching web which allows a surgeon, with the guide in place, and using the entirety of his or her finger tip, to palpate a patient's body tissue to assure proper relative positioning of the needle guide, and hence of a needle guided by the guide
A further object of the invention is to provide a guide of the type outlined which is effective to help indicate the depth of needle insertion in the patient's tissue.
A related object is to provide such a guide which includes two separable segments, joined by a frangible web which allows for easy separation. Unseparated, the overall guide can house a fully sheathed, fully protected needle in a preassembled, sterile, pre-use package. Separated, one of the segments acts as the final procedure guide, with an end functioning to alert the surgeon about, and to control, the depth of needle penetration.
The proposed guide includes an elongate body, with a flexible central needle support having a lumen which receives and guides a surgical needle Forming part of the body is an integral wing-like structure which extends laterally from opposite sides of the support along its length. An elongate guide attaching ribbon extends from the distal end of the body. This ribbon includes a first portion which has a predetermined length extending immediately beyond the distal end of the guide body. This first portion acts, in part, as a measure for aligning the distal end of the body properly relative to the tip of a surgeon's finger A second portion in the ribbon extends initially at an angle from the first portion, assists in the aligning process, and functions for training, or folding, smoothly over and around the top of a surgeon's finger tip. The first and second ribbon portions bear an adhesive which is usable to secure the guide in place These ribbon portions take the form of a flexible, thin web which promotes finger touch-sensitivity to allow ready, informative palpating of the patient's body tissue properly to position a needle for a surgical procedure The ribbon portions also act as what might be thought of as a glance protector over the end of the finger to protect against injury during surgery.
According to a modified form of the invention, instead of there being, as viewed in cross-section, a distinct lumen structure with wing-like lateral extensions, the cross-sectional configuration of the modified device, along substantially all of its length, takes the form, generally, of a segment of a circle. A bore extends generally centrally through this cross section to define a needle-receiving passage.
These and other objects and advantages offered by the invention will become more fully apparent as the description which now follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.